it's good to be the customer

 we spent july 2-9 on-island enjoying some time off and watching the house rise up out of the ground, literally.  on arrival, the sub-floor was complete and studs delineated interior spaces.  it was a treat to walk atop the foundation work on a flat surface and digest the scale of each space and the house's footprint.

 the crawl space under the house is a few feet high supported by CMU walls and piers atop footings.  trades will come in after the roof is on and rough in plumbing and electrical.  this is different than a slab home where the trades are engaged before the slab is poured for a single-story house.  elevating this house above ground facilitates maintenance and drainage around the house, as well as a softer floor to walk on than straight slab.  a poly sheet was installed atop the ground level per requesst of the flooring contractor to minimize moisture rising up from the ground.

 the dirt dug out to create the footings was piled high in several hills across the property.  this will be used for leveling a "backyard" space, a berm across the street side to minimize car noise, and general fill for drainage and slopes.  

 framed walls starting going up while we were on-island.  this was a real treat to experience the three dimensions taking shape in real-time.  the crew let me help raise a master bedroom wall.  i was surprised how heavy this wall was even though most of it was open space for a sliding window.  

framing started in the south master wing and worked it's way north all the way to the center entry area by the time we left on the 9th.  seeing window holes cut into the walls framed views and provided opportunities to gauge height and functionality, as well as feel prevailing trade winds blowing through the holes.

master bath tub window

interior spaces were fun to walk through, too.  we tested the height of window handles.  walking around the master spaces felt small at times, then big at other times, even though it was the same space. 

looking north toward shower

 we made a few changes on window height where it terminates at the sill at the bottom, moving some from 36" off finish floor to 48".  this can leave room for furniture against a wall and highlight the great idea of marble or granite sills at the bottom of each window.  overall, i was surprised how large each window opening looked; i knew the sliding doors were large openings, but the windows are also very large on the east side of the house.  we modified the bid from awning to double-hung style and the price finally came into budget.  milgard ultra fiberglass in matte black will look awesome and match the fleetwood aluminum sliders.

 framing continued north into the living space where i was again surprised at the east openings, and that they were actually wider than the west view side.  i had read the window schedule wrong where that opening was quantity (2) windows of 110" creating a 220" space.  that's over 18 feet. 

 all of the window openings combined with the narrow footprint helped me realize the benefits of such a design for the ventilation of the house, pretty much the key design criteria in Hawaii.  our house will not have air conditioning or heat.  there is thought to allocating a room AC unit to a specific space to dry it out and protect documents or provide an escape for the days when the winds may not be blowing.. most likely the office.

the living room has unintentionally expanded a bit in width based on how the plans were read, and does not feel as narrow as i had feared, especially since adding a foot on each side as a good compromise between more space and keeping the roof line same and the ventilation in tact.  double-hung windows will allow heat to escape from the top opening (around 8'), and cool air to enter the house from the bottom opening (around 3' or 4').

big windows

some good views to be had from various rooms:

master bedroom

kitchen window

make-up vanity and electronics window 

kitchen deck view

 

 the pace of the project has really picked up.  the builder now has a cadence where he can control the moving parts of procurement, scheduling, and look ahead for possible roadblocks or opportunities.  architect, builder and bonding company are working well together, giving me confidence this will be a successful project.

 up next:  plumbing fixtures and lighting design.

i'm on the floor

 the money spigot is on.  the builder has been able to draw funds from bond and repay himself, me, and everyone else who helped get the house in then out of the ground in spite of a dysfunctional loan process.

 foundation piers and floor framing can be seen in this set of pictures taken by my neighbor (small) and the architect (large).  most all pictures are taken from either the north or south side of the footprint.  when i arrive on monday, i plan to take lots of pictures, several facing east (from the pali) or west (from the driveway).

 we've switched to double-hung windows and i am awaiting pricing on those.  if fiberglass is still too expensive, we will go aluminum.

job creator

 finally some tangible work being performed by real humans.  footings poured and block laid, you can see the beginnings of floor framing in these pictures.  having working drawings to reference helps me visualize where these pillars and turns are on the floorplan. 

 i arrive LIH in ten days, currently planning to make the most of the week i will be there (minus fourth of july).  even if framing is not up (which i doubt it will be), if the level floor is down (or, up, as it were), it will help shoot the views and angles of the windows and room scale.

behind bedroom three

bedroom three exterior "hallway"

footings

he's straddling MBR and MBA

MBR southwest corner

funded!

i thought this day would never come.  the bank loan is recording today and the subsequent funding of bond allows us to buy stuff and do stuff.  finally.  the six-month delay has me and the builder deep in debt.  in order to keep the project going, we have been paying trades directly.  the funded bond will now allow us to pay ourselves back.

 i've decided to upgrade the non-sliding windows throughout from vinyl to aluminum or fiberglass.  i've had a bad feeling on vinyl and do not want any failures or quality issues when i'm not there to address it or even see it.  the other reason is aesthetic.  vinyl only comes in white or tan, and aluminum allows an anodized bronze finish, exactly like the san diego house.  this will increase the cost from the contract and begin a new specification process.

 materials have started to arrive at the site.  the builder placed orders to coincide with a regular construction schedule, but that got thrown off considerably by lack of funding (see above).  this is bad in that the materials are sitting on site doing nothing, but also good in that when it's time to employ those materials, there is no delay.

 with funding cleared, i should be posting more often now.

trench for control wires to front gate

concrete in the ground

from the garage area looking south

nobody escapes the matrix

wood waiting

stacked materials

footings poured

earth mover

 various excavation

now dig this

 still no progress on closing the loan from the bank.  i was requested to send a letter to FHB's legal department on my authority to indebt the property to a mortgage since the property is held in my revocable trust.  holding property in trust is common, and i have not had this requirement in any of my mortgages or re-financing; and, mortgaging property by the trustee (me) is standard probate law.  might be an interstate thing since this is HI and the trust is CA.  but, more likely a delay tactic.

 house footprint has been scraped and recently dug out this week.  i'm encouraged by the large amount of dirt visible, available for re-use to slope grade away from the front-of-house and mound-up the rear for a gentle step down.  also need some earth to flatten out the edge where the pali falls down steeply.

looking north

looking south

elevated, looking south

black hole sun

 this delay brought to you by First Hawaiian Bank.